This invention relates to a seat such as a chair but also includes other seating appliances such as sofas, couches, stools and the like. This invention relates to an improvement or modification to the seat disclosed in our international application No. PCT/AU94/00513 (WO 95/06424). The contents of this international application are incorporated into this specification by this reference.
The seat disclosed in the above-mentioned international application is intended to improve seating posture and to ensure that proper bodily functions are not impaired or adversely affected when a person is seated.
This invention relates to further improvements or modifications to further improve seating posture.
A first aspect of the present invention may be said to reside in a seat including:
a seating portion for connection to a base so that the seating apparatus can be supported on the ground, said seat portion having a front, a rear and two sides;
said seat portion having,
(a) an upwardly inclined portion which inclines upwardly from the front of the seat portion to a first intermediate position between the front and rear of the seat portion,
(b) an inclined support portion extending between a second intermediate position and the rear of the seat portion, and
(c) a substantially flat horizontal position extending from the first intermediate position to the second intermediate position;
wherein the upwardly inclined portion is for supporting the femurs of a person so that the femurs and knees are supported in a position below the person""s acetabulum, said substantially flat horizontal portion being for receiving and holding the ischial bones when the person sits down and said inclined support portion being for supporting the person""s gluteal muscles and sacra iliac ligaments;
the upwardly inclined portion including a first cushioning material;
the flat horizontal portion including a second cushioning material;
the first cushioning material being denser than the second cushioning material so that when a person sits on the seating apparatus, the second cushioning material is compressed and holds the ischial bones and the first cushioning material which is of higher density than the second cushioning material prevents a person from slipping forward on the seat; and
the upwardly inclined portion being curved or concave so that side parts of the upwardly inclined portion adjacent the two sides of the seat portion are closer to the front of the seat than a mid portion of the upwardly inclined portion, the side parts overlapping the substantially flat horizontal portion and the second intermediate position being substantially at the said mid-portion of the inclined support portion.
Preferably the substantially flat horizontal portion is formed from the same cushioning material as the upwardly inclined portion and the inclined support portion and is mechanically altered to provide a density which is less than the density of the upwardly inclined portion and the inclined support portion.
Preferably the cushioning material of the substantially flat horizontal portion is mechanically altered by providing cuts or grooves in the cushioning material to decrease the density of the cushioning material.
Preferably the upwardly inclined portion, the inclined support portion and substantially flat horizontal portion include an integral cushioning member.
Another aspect of the invention may be said to reside in a seat including:
a seating portion for connection to a base so that the seating apparatus can be supported on the ground, said seat portion having a front and a rear;
said seat portion having,
(a) an upwardly inclined portion which inclines upwardly from the front of the seat portion to a first intermediate position between the front and rear of the seat portion,
(b) an inclined support portion extending between a second intermediate position and the rear of the seat portion, and
(c) a mid portion extending from the first intermediate position to the second intermediate position;
wherein the upwardly inclined portion is for supporting the femurs of a person so that the femurs and knees are supported in a position below the person""s acetabulum, said mid portion being for receiving and holding the ischial bones when the person sits down and said inclined support portion being for supporting the person""s gluteal muscles and sacra iliac ligaments;
the upwardly inclined portion including a first cushioning material;
the mid portion including a second cushioning material;
the first cushioning material being denser than the second cushioning material so that when a person sits on the seating apparatus, the second cushioning material compressed and holds the ischial bones and the first cushioning material which is of higher density than the second cushioning material prevents a person from slipping forward on the seat; and
the first and second cushioning material being formed from dense cushioning material and the second cushioning material being mechanically altered to decrease its density so as to provide the second cushioning material with a density which is less than the first cushioning material.
Preferably the second cushioning material is mechanically altered by providing cuts or grooves in the second cushioning material to thereby enable the cushioning material to compress more than the first cushioning material.
Preferably the inclined support portion is formed from a third cushioning material which is of substantially the same density as the first cushioning material.
Preferably the first cushioning material, second cushioning material and third cushioning material include an integral cushioning member of cushioning materials and wherein the integral cushioning member is provided with cuts or grooves to decrease the density of the cushioning member in the vicinity of the cuts and grooves to thereby provide the second cushioning material which is less dense than the first cushioning material.
Preferably the inclined support portion includes a wedge-shaped cushioning member of dense cushioning material which is coupled to the integral cushioning member to form the inclined support portion, the wedge-shaped cushioning member being formed from a fourth cushioning material which is denser than the second cushioning material.
Preferably the first cushioning material is the same as the fourth cushioning material.